Mahasatsang at Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh
When you go to a shop to buy something, it comes with a package. It is packaged. This packaging is essential, but it is not the substance. It is the substance which is packed.
Similarly, formalities are just a package. It is like a wrapping paper. The real thing is the belongingness. If there isn’t a feeling of oneness, then it cannot be called a satsang or utsav (celebration).
I have travelled around the world and I have noticed that none of the countries have spirituality and celebration connected so deeply as in India. On one hand, they are spiritual while on the other hand they go to parties and are involved in merrymaking. However, in spiritual gatherings, there is no fun or happiness; it is a very serious affair. We do this even in India as well - become very serious, but it should not be like that! Holi is a festival of fun and frolic, of happiness.
Did all of you play Holi? Which Holi did you play? I don’t mean only the Holi where you apply colour on each other. It is a festival where you are coloured in the colours of your soul. The soul has seven colours.
You have given this gathering a very good name- Atmotsav! The celebration of the soul is Atmotsav. Whenever there has been a major celebration in Bengaluru, Bhopal or elsewhere, a lot of people from Ratlam used to attend them and ask me, ‘When will you come to Ratlam?’
See, I have come to Ratlam!
Belongingness is the essence of life. When there is belongingness, things don’t appear dull. When there is no dullness, there will not be greed. Your desires won’t trouble you. All the distortions will be removed. The root cause of any distortion is inertia, that is when you don’t like anything. This feeling comes from dullness.
Where there is belongingness, dullness gets wiped out, and you are joyous. Then you are automatically rid of your addiction to alcohol.
Millions of people across the globe have experienced that as they do Meditation and Sudarshan Kriya, they are automatically freed of their bad habits.
I know that every person, when born is a good person and there is no doubt about that. There are good qualities in them. Over the years, these good qualities in them gets hidden and all the distortions start showing up. The reason behind it is ignorance and the absence of spiritual knowledge.
Neither at home nor in schools are we taught how to live life. We don’t know how to handle our mind. We learn everything else except how to handle ourselves. It is very essential to learn this.
(Somebody offers Gurudev a garland and he says: ) I know your feelings behind this garland. We are not able to express our feelings. The flower then becomes a medium. But, I tell you, there is no need for this. A smile on your face is enough for me. You are blossomed, and a smile on your face is greater than a flower. That gives me a lot of satisfaction.
So, what were we talking about? Belongingness! There should be belongingness. Where belongingness ends there corruption begins. No one has ever been corrupt and wicked with those who are their own. We do this only with those whom we don’t consider our own. So, if today, in the society, we want to re-establish peace, we must create a wave of spirituality. Right? All of us will have to work on this. We want a violence-free society. A society where there is no robbery, no ill-will against each other, and where a close connection exists amongst people. Once upon a time, our society had been like this. In India, when spirituality was at its peak, the economic condition of India was also very good. When there was a fall in spirituality, we fell financially as well. We can see it from both the ways: we fell financially, so a fall was noticed in spirituality as well. But I would say that if we engulf our society in a wave of spirituality once again, if we take yoga, udyog (work), and yagya together, we can again visualize an India where there is ‘Ram-Rajya’, as Mahatma Gandhiji put it. So, today in Atmotsav, we will do three things: singing, knowledge and meditation.
Have the trust in life that you are not alone, and there is someone with you. Whatever be your troubles, problems and pains, just surrender it to me. Just say, ‘Guruji, I can’t bear this, please take it’. Think this way or write it, send it whichever way you want to, but you march ahead in life, free of all tensions. This is what I want.
What use is that celebration that doesn’t involve silence, and what is that silence which doesn’t transform into a celebration? Silence gives depth to a celebration, while celebration brings forth the inner power of silence. That is why, for little while, we must practice meditation. It is very important. It sharpens your memory and keeps you healthy.
How many of you have body ache? You know why?
We put poisonous things in the soil, like pesticides and chemicals that is why. We put chemical fertilizers in the soil and when we eat the crop that harvests, we feel the pain in our body.
You know, earlier, the rice and wheat we used to keep at home would be eaten up by insects. Isn’t it? This doesn’t happen now.
What does that mean? Even the insects don’t like the things we eat. It is because they know it contains poisonous substances. We eat such things and then we have pain everywhere in the body. So many people are suffering from cancer. That is why we should engage in organic, chemical-free farming and eat only such food items.
If we know what to eat, then we can protect ourselves from diseases.
So, if you want to purify your body, use Ayurveda. Take Triphala Churna at least once a week. This keeps your bowel clean.
For purifying your body, you must use Ayurveda. Do pranayama for a little while everyday. This will give strength to your body and make your mind pleasant. And everyone must listen to music. People listen to music but not attentively. The songs keep playing but your mind is wandering elsewhere or you are talking. No, this shouldn’t be the case. Listen to music for some time. Music brings purity to your emotions. Knowledge purifies the mind. Donation purifies wealth. And ghee (clarified butter) purifies our food.
You should never hesitate with bhajan (devotional music) and bhojan (food). Otherwise, you will remain hungry physically as well as spiritually.
Will that work? No, it goes simultaneously. Dharma, karma, adhyatma, they all go hand-in-hand.
If you live a natural and simple life with sincerity, then you have learnt the Art of Living.
If you go to the last city of the South Pole, Tierra del Fuego, you will find thousands of people doing pranayama, meditating and turning vegetarian. If you go to the last city of the North Pole, Tromso, where, for two months there is no sunlight, neither sun nor moon rises there. Even in that city I was shocked to find people waiting to meet me at the airport. They said, ‘We are doing sadhana in the university here’. It is everywhere around the world.
On 11th March, I am leaving for Pakistan as well. Last time when I went to Pakistan, it was seven and a half years back. I came to Indore and then went to Pakistan.
This time again, in Madhya Pradesh, I have come to Indore and Ratlam and will be going to Pakistan. Even there, thousands of people have been doing sadhana. They were making a lot of requests for me to come to their place. They really wanted me to come to Pakistan and so I will be leaving for Pakistan from here.
Every corner of this world requires our tradition of knowledge and meditation. We should present it in a meaningful way. When I went to Pakistan, people asked me this question, ‘In your country, people worship so many Gods, while in our country, we just worship one’.
I said, ‘No, we also worship just one God, but do you know how? Now, from the same wheat flour you make samosa, parantha, halwa and other dishes. It is all made from the same wheat flour. The Karachi halwa is made from wheat flour too.’
I asked them, ‘Why do you make so many things from the same wheat? Similarly, though there is just one God, we worship him in different ways. The same God has different qualities and for each quality we have given a form. In Islam, Allah is known by ninety nine other names.
In Sanatana Dharma, there are one hundred and eight names and we made as many forms as well. Not even one hundred and eight, I would say thousand names, ‘Sahasra Naam!’ But there is only one God, one ‘Noor’, one ‘Parmatma’ and it is only Him whom we revere by different names and forms. They felt very good after I shared it with them.
They said, ‘We have never heard it this way, we could never gain this knowledge. We always understood you (people belonging to other religions) to be different from us’.
What is Sanātana Dharma? From ancient times, it has been said, ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, i.e., this world is my own; this world is one family (one world family). If you possess such magnanimous sentiments, you can call yourself dharmic.
If the society has witnessed a fall, it is because of the silence of the good people, because they were inactive. The demonic people are only few in number. The day good people become active, that day the demonic people will be suppressed.
Prayer doesn’t mean a superficial prayer. You should feel the pain of seeing him walking on the wrong path. And don’t keep that pain to yourself. Surrender that pain to God.
A prayer should rise from the depth of your heart, ‘May this person recover soon’, and it will definitely be fulfilled. Even if that doesn’t work, then it is his karma, forget it!
If someone tells you that he will help you see God, then think that he is a fool. God is neither a material substance nor a sight, he is in the seer. That is why only through meditation can you attain God.
A person whose mind is turned outward can never attain God. If one feels that he can see Lord Hanuman, then there has been some illusion. There is something wrong with his brain. Why? Because you can never look at the seer as a sight. He is neither a sight, a material substance nor is He different from us. The Parmatma (Divine) is hidden in the Atma (soul). When you meditate, you will feel, ‘Wow, the one I have been searching for everywhere is in me’. You will have this experience. After that, nobody will be able to shake you. Nobody will be able to wipe away the smile from your face.
So, God is here, right this moment, in us. Know this and relax. Accept this and relax.
Vishram main Ram hai!(The Divine can be experienced in relaxation).
Our education system is so old-fashioned and wrong, that people remain unemployed after completing their studies. In our country, the ones who are uneducated find employment while 59% of the post graduates are unemployed. Though they studied so hard all these years and did their post graduation, they cannot find employment. The education should be job-oriented. Our education should be such that proper attention is given to honing the employment skills. If the teaching is job-friendly, then as soon as the students complete their education, they will get a job. We need to bring this change.
I request all the doctors to offer three free medical camps in a year. If you are a lawyer, I want you to handle three cases free of cost. Do this once in four months for people who are very poor and cannot afford to pay your contribution.
Can you do this?
And all the school teachers should give free tuition to students who are weak in studies. Consider three students for a year. And if you are a student, create awareness about voting amongst people. Ask everyone to go and vote and to vote against corruption.
It is as good as asking a person who is sleeping, ‘Are you asleep’? Whether he says yes or no is one and the same thing, that means, he is awake.
Similarly, you are asking, ‘do we need a Guru?’ Because you are asking this question, it means you need one.
